A Promise Fulfilled
by xbeautifulxdisasterxkate
Summary: The Doctor's regenerating. Valerie isn't going to leave his side.  DoctorxOC


Valerie smiled cheerfully at the Doctor. The Time Lords had gone, and everything was going to be okay again. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'm alive. I'm still alive."

The two laughed together, glad the ordeal was over. In the midst of their celebrating, there sounded four knocks on the glass door of the chamber behind them. They froze and turned to look. Valerie crossed to the glass box and put her hand against it. Wilf placed his hand on the glass where hers was.

"They're gone then? Good-o. If you could, let me out."

Cleo shook her head slowly, staring at the box. "Why is it making this much noise? Doctor, tell me what's going on!"

"The Master left a nuclear bomb running. Gone into overload."

"That's bad?" Wilf asked.

"No. All the radiation gets vented inside there. The Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred rads about to flood that thing."

"Well, we better get him out then." Valerie replied.

"Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods. Even this would set it off."

"I'm sorry. Just leave me." The trapped man said.

"No, Wilf, we won't. I wouldn't let him leave you here to die."

"Okay, then. I will. 'Cause you had to go and get stuck in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck! Oh yes! 'Cause that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this…waiting for me and all this time."

"No really. Just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time."

"Well exactly! Look at you. Not remotely important! But me? I could do so much more! So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. Well it's not fair!"

Valerie stared at the Doctor, incredulous. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What're you looking at? Huh?" he said to her once he took notice of her again, "Answer me!"

"I honestly don't know. You're not the man I knew anymore. The man I knew would try to save him. I am more than ashamed to say that I am half Time Lord because of what you just said to him."

"Val…you don't understand."

She turned back to Wilfred, looking at the box. "I understand perfectly. The Ood told me this would happen. Delta 7 tells me everything he knows."

The Doctor sighed. He knew what he had to do and he had to do it fast. He took the small woman in his arms, turned her around and kissed her gently.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to miss you the most, Val. I have to do this."

"No, Doctor, don't. Let me. I'm nothing compared to you. No one will notice if I'm gone. Let me take your place.

"I've lived too long." He said. A tear rolled down her cheek. She knew this would spell the end for him.

"Oh no please don't. No, no! Please don't! Please!" Wilf begged.

"Wilfred, it's my honor. Better be quick! 3-2-1…"

Valerie watched as he stepped into the chamber and the bomb activated. More tears streamed down her face. Wilf put his arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. The Doctor stepped out of the chamber. He seemed fine, but they both knew he wasn't.

"Hello." She said.

"Hi."

"I see you're still with us."

"The system's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing's kaput."

"There we are then. Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in a hell of a state. Got some battle scars there. Your-your face. How'd you do that?" he asked, seeing the Doctor's face starting to heal itself.

The only words the Doctor said were, "It's started."

Then, he left them.

"Well, Wilf, it's time I'm off as well. I've got things to do, places to go, who knows where I'll end up?"

"Yeah, we should just go home."

"I don't have a home, Wilf. I go where the wind takes me. Literally."

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Perhaps, if you're lucky. Goodbye, Wilfred."

He barely had time to say 'goodbye' before a gust of wind picked up. When it died down, Valerie was gone. He looked around the room for her, but never found her. That was the last time Wilfred ever saw Valerie Marshall.

Meanwhile, Valerie appeared beside Ood Sigma. She looked at the Doctor a few feet away, on the ground in pain.

"We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep." The Ood said. After he spoke, the saddest song began,

"This song is ending, but the story never ends."

The Doctor stumbled into his TARDIS, flipping switches and turning knobs. As the TARDIS disappeared, the wind began to pick up again. Valerie appeared at the TARDIS console and smiled sadly. He looked at her, his face displaying utter despair. She reached out to touch him one last time, knowing that she had fulfilled her promise: to be with him until the end.

"I don't wanna go…" he said just as the regeneration started.


End file.
